Press release

New York Attorney
General Eric T. Schneiderman announced late last week that he shut
down two websites as part of a "work at home" scam involving a
mystery shopper program, which is used by legitimate retailers who
hire marketing research companies to evaluate the quality of service
in their stores.

The websites,
www.idealcorp.net and www.survsonl.com, operating as T. Crefideal
Corp, lured consumers into becoming mystery shoppers to gather
information anonymously about the customer service of a particular
store, but instead of getting paid, they were duped into paying the
scammers thousands of dollars.

Schneiderman also
offered tips to protect consumers from work at home frauds.

"These scams
are particularly insidious because they target individuals looking
for ways to bolster their income in today's challenging job climate,"
Schneiderman said. "While legitimate 'work from home'
opportunities do exist, scammers who are simply stealing money under
the guise of offering employment are on notice. Our office will
continue to protect consumers and shut these bad actors down."

In this version of
the scam, consumers were asked to log onto www.idealcorp.net or
www.survsonl.com with a "job number." Upon entering the job
number, the victim was given a work assignment as a "secret
shopper" for Western Union. The victim was sent a counterfeit check
for $2,000 and told to keep $300 as payment. The victim was then
instructed to wire the remaining $1,700 to someone overseas and
evaluate Western Union employees during the process. After doing so,
the victim's bank identifies the now deposited check as counterfeit
and takes $2,000 back out of the victim's account. Instead of
making $300, the victim loses $1,700.

Federal regulations
require banks to make deposited funds available to a customer within
a specific amount of time - usually significantly shorter than the
amount of time it takes for the bank to determine that a check is
forged. This scheme exploits that delay. Wired funds typically cannot
be recovered or traced. The only record kept by the money transfer
company is of funds being transferred from one of their accounts to
another. While each transfer request is logged electronically, once
the funds are in a central account, the actual money can be picked up
at any office covered by that account, by any individual presenting
the specified identification, which itself may be forged, leaving the
victim with little or no recourse for recovering the wired funds.

Previous mystery
shopping scams have typically involved using newspaper ads and emails
to promote websites where consumers can "register" to
become a mystery shopper. Once lured to the website, a victim is
shown a list of reputable companies, asked to pay a fee for
information about a certification program and then guaranteed a job.

The attorney
general urges readers to protect themselves from this scam by
learning to recognize the warning signs:

•Be suspicious of
any checks or work-at-home opportunities that come to you unsolicited
via mail or email. Promises of easy money are almost certainly scams.

•There is
virtually no legitimate reason for anyone to give you a check or
money order and in turn ask you to transfer funds via Western Union,
MoneyGram or any other wire service. No legitimate company conducts
business in this manner.

•Mystery shoppers
set up through legitimate companies are generally paid after
completing their assignments and returning their evaluations to the
companies that hired them. They do not receive checks up front.

•Individuals
hired as mystery shoppers are often provided gift cards to the
specific retail locations they are being asked to review. Any
out-of-pocket expenses are nominal, and reimbursed by the employer.

•A familiar name
does not guarantee legitimacy. Scammers often pose as representatives
from well-known, reputable companies - or the Mystery Shopping
Providers Association (MSPA) itself - to lull their victims into a
false sense of security. Research the company independently and
contact them directly if you wish to verify job listing information.

For more
information about fake check scams, visit www.FakeChecks.org,
the website created by the National Consumers League (NCL) in
collaboration with the Alliance for Consumer Fraud Awareness. If you
think you have encountered a mystery shopping scam, or other similar
fake check scam, contact the money transfer company immediately to
report the fraud and file a complaint.